I decided to meet up with some inmates in Big Sur, since it was about a thousand miles one way I decided to make it two days down, two day riding with my friends, two days home.

Here I am ready to go the night before

The next day dawned mostly crappy so I set out in the rain. I decided to bomb down I-5 looking for some better weather. About 20 miles in I found that my rain gear wasn't working so well, since I had left at 6:30 AM there weren't a lot of options on where to get some rain gear. I toughed it out to the closest Walmart and bought some rubber rain gear, for less than 10 bucks.

After about 50 miles on the freeway I noticed that my new rain gear was flapping in the breeze quite well. I stopped to get gas about 100 miles later and the entire back of the jacket was just shredded. Since it was a decent hour I was able to swing into Bi-Mart and great a much heavier PVC jacket for $19

I hadn't pulled out my camera because of the rain, I did have a nice ride over Happy Camp road and by the time I got to Eureka the weather was clearing up. I headed to the lost coast and was finally able to pull out the camera.

You can see the shadows are getting long and I still have quite a ways to go tonight.

I got to Petrolia just as the store was closing, I was able to load up on water and ice cream.

I liked the light on the church

Just a couple of miles from camp and the sun is gone

I set up camp in the dark, had a snack and hit the sack. I knew I would be up before sunrise in the morning and my plan was kickstand up before daybreak.

I'm enjoying this thread already, Allan
thanks for taking us along on your trip and I appreciate your excellent photography to help document this journey
I can't wait for the next post. Again, thank you

__________________Greg'11 R1200 GS Adventure with a DMC M72DX Sidecar'14 R1200 GS & '14 R nineT (march, 2014)Live life like you mean it... but take your family and friends (and DOGS) along for the "ride"

I carry a Nikon D600 which is a full frame DSLR, I carry this in my tank bag and I figure if you have it why not use it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClearwaterBMW

I'm enjoying this thread already, Allan
thanks for taking us along on your trip and I appreciate your excellent photography to help document this journey
I can't wait for the next post. Again, thank you

I was awoken in the middle of the night by a bunch of noise, I looked out of my tent and I saw that several vans full of people had arrived. It was around midnight so they were running very late. I went back to sleep and didn't think much more about them.

I awoke to my alarm at 6 and immediately got to packing up. I had a long way to go and I was planning on taking the less traveled roads. I also was going right through the belly of the beast, I was going over the Golden Gate and right through San Francisco.

I got going just as the sun was coming up, I was on the road for just a few minutes when I came across this sight.

It didn't look that stuck and with 3 other vans I would have thought they could have gotten this out of the ditch easily, I'm going to guess they didn't have a lot of experience unsticking vehicles.

I had breakfast in Redway and read the local paper. It would seem that they are having major problems with young people just hanging around and "camping" in public parks. The locals didn't seem too happy with the way the local government was handling the situation.

After breakfast I went down 101 to the bit of road I was really looking forward to this morning. Hwy 1 between 101 and the coast is an amazing motorcycle road. I was lucky I only had to pass one truck on the road and I had it mostly to myself. I was way too busy riding and having fun to take pics.

After I got out to the coast the camera came out again.

Mendocino is a very cool little town, I wish I wasn't in such a hurry and I could wander a little more.

Interesting statue on top of the church

The moon was out.

Local color

Some more views down Hwy 1

After this the camera went away, I had a long way to go and the days are short. I went across the Golden Gate and didn't even slow down to take a pic.

This is what it looked like in 2012 when I was coming back from Baja

I lane split through traffic, my first plan was to ride down the coast all the way but with the amount of daylight I had left I would be riding for hours in the dark. I elected to stay in the valley and on the highway until Salinas and then take 68 into Monterey. I have driven and ridden that part of the coast several times so I wouldn't be missing anything.

I made it back on to Hwy 1 and south of Monterey after 5, I knew I would be arriving in the dark but I kept pushing hard because I have a really crapy headlight

Getting near sunset I had to stop and grab a few shots

I found the campground in the dark and I mean dark, I wandered all around the campground looking for motorcycles until the camp host came out and pointed me in the right direction. All my buddies were out eating dinner.